As comeback gains steam, some perspective for Grady Sizemore

Tuesday

Mar 11, 2014 at 7:55 PM

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In essence, John Farrell was pumping the brakes.

By TIM BRITTON

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In essence, John Farrell was pumping the brakes.

For the second consecutive spring, the dominant storyline at JetBlue Park surrounds the surprising performance of a center fielder. This year it’s veteran Grady Sizemore, who with each passing day looks more and more like the elite player he was back in his glory days in Cleveland.

Before the expectations for Sizemore, at one time a legitimate MVP candidate with the Indians, got too large, though, Farrell felt the need to offer perspective.

“Everything has been very positive about him in camp. He’s also missed two years, and we temper the excitement with that,” said Farrell. “Even if he wasn’t coming off the number of challenges that he’s met physically, when you have a two-year gap, you’d have to say, ‘What is the likely number of games that a player with this path could give us?’ We’ve got to keep all that in perspective.”

Sizemore completed his biggest physical test of the spring on Tuesday by playing in consecutive games for the first time. He went 0-for-2 at the plate — a pair of groundouts to second — and played four innings in center.

“Everything went well,” said Sizemore. “Another good day.”

That something as simple as playing a few innings on back-to-back days registers as a major physical test serves as a reminder of the mountain Sizemore is climbing this spring. He is traversing nearly unprecedented ground. Occasionally, a pitcher has shown the ability to recover from missing consecutive seasons, as is the case with Boston’s Chris Capuano. Capuano returned to the majors in 2010 after his second Tommy John surgery kept him out of 2008 and 2009. It wasn’t until 2011, Capuano said, “where I felt like I was all the way back.”

“It took me about 18 months to get back, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I might not actually make it back,” Capuano said. “That was a real perspective experience for me…. I’ve had a little bit of a different attitude since then.”

Former Red Sox outfielder Rocco Baldelli twice missed roughly a season and a half with injuries.

“There are both mental and physical things to get over when you haven’t stepped on the field in a while,” said Baldelli. “Obviously regaining confidence is a very important thing, and regaining confidence in your body — they’re kind of linked, and they’re both necessary to get back out there.”

Sizemore is going about regaining that confidence with baby steps in his recovery. Taking off on a wild pitch and sliding into second on Friday was a step. Running on a 3-2 pitch and being able to stop easily at second on Monday was a step.

Everything that once came so simply now represents progress.

“All of those things that you take for granted normally, I have to think about and re-train myself to do them the right way,” Sizemore said. “I’m not patient, but the good thing about baseball is there is always another day. There’s not a lot of time in between. You’re constantly adding on and moving toward the next day. So you don’t really have to be patient, just smart.”

“It’s even more than [the two years missed],” said Farrell. “You go back to the two years in which he was still getting major-league games, there were a lot of games missed. That’s not to be critical; that’s just being candid and honest with the path that he’s traveled.”

Considering the opaque nature of that path, Sizemore’s early success has been both surprising and encouraging. Farrell has been impressed with Sizemore’s timing, even if the outfielder himself knows it isn’t quite right.

“I feel good but not great,” he said. “My timing feels off. It feels a little rusty. But I don’t feel like it’s been two or three years. I feel like it’s just another spring training where it’s early and you’re just trying to get a hold of things and get that rhythm down.

“I still feel like I have a long way to go.”

Even so, the thought of Sizemore simply approximating his old self is a feast to dream on for the Red Sox. It could change the dynamic in center, lending the Red Sox some much-needed depth. It could change the dynamic of the lineup, providing an answer in the leadoff spot and lengthening the batting order substantially.

Sizemore himself said his mind races to what could be at times.

“The fact that Grady’s having encouraging signs in spring training is not a bad thing for Jackie Bradley or for anybody,” Farrell said. “It means we’ve got another good player. Grady gives us the potential to build another talented and deep roster.”

“I like to see guys be able to come back and do what they love to do. It gives me a good feeling to see someone who loves playing the game and at one point probably thought that part of their life was over,” Baldelli said. “If what he’s coming back from is something that he can physically recover from, then I don’t see a reason why he wouldn’t be OK.”